OS and Apps in different languages other than English

[YS2003]

So far, all my computer's OS and Apps are in English. But, there are many software programs, including Mac OS X, are localized in the local language of the market where they are sold.

Other than the languages, is there any difference in how the OS and Apps operate? Does "localization" change the menu options/orders? Or, is it just simply a translation of English to the foreign language, keeping the rest of the software architechure the same?

 

[gekko513]

Your OS and most of your apps are multilingual. If you change your preferred language in System Preferences -> International, log out and log in again. Finder and the apps that support the language you chose will change.

The change isn't just limited to text for apps that use Interface Builder to make the user interface. Usually the only difference is the text, but the order of items, position of items, the audio and any other user interface element may change if the translators decide that's the best solution.

If you ctrl+click a normal packaged OS X application and choose "Show Package Content", then browse to "Contents" -> "Resources", you will usually see some image files and other multimedia resources for the application, but also folders called "English.lproj" and "German.lproj" and so on. These folders contains the user interface specification for that particular language.